Apart from Sindhudurg, Malwan's other attractions are Ganesh Mandir, Rock Garden and Chivla beach. Afternoon 4:30 we started with Ganesh Mandir located at the end of the main market street. The temple is small, well maintained.
That's the Garbhagudi entrance.
The golden idol of Lord Ganesha.
Rock Garden was about half kilometer. We chose to walk.
Rock Garden is an interesting place. No sand, just rocks and lawn. The garden also has a toy train but sadly it hasn't been working for months. Even though lot of people were here it did not feel crowded. Its a nice place to relax, fresh breeze from the sea, sounds of waves lapping at rocks, setting sun... Crabs scampering among rocks were an attraction for kids and few grown ups too. Teenagers were busy taking pictures of each other. I happened to notice an urbane girl in green dress, accompanied by her mom and granny, busy taking her own pictures with a mobile phone. Perhaps she wanted a good picture for her Facebook profile.
Sun makes the sky honey color.
I like watching crabs, especially the way they move. Of 20+ pictures this was the only decent one. I wonder how many eyes this crab has. The face looks like a hood of a futuristic car and the eye are like headlights.
Sun was out of sight after this.
Next morning we were on Chiwla beach by 6:30. Tourists can choose between the 3 beach resorts here. They looked pretty decent from the outside. Mom found a nice stone and stayed there watching Durga play in sand. Dipi got into the water. I took off for a walk. I wanted to see & shoot and then get into water.
A short video-
The bow shaped Chiwla beach is about 1.2km long. At one end is Rock Garden and on the other end is Sarjekot fishing village. Folks were busy in various activities- some preparing to into the sea, while some had just returned and untangling their catch from the nets.
Two fishermen arrive at the beach, they had spent the night fishing.
This short video shows how a boat is moved from sea to beach.
I went beyond the village but stopped a 100 meters shy of the rocks marking the end. Not a good idea to venture beyond the fishing village i just passed by. I turn back.
A crab hole being washed over.
It takes in water and sand.
And still remains open. Amazing!
I joined Deepak in the sea. We were about a 100 feet into the sea water was only till chest. I spent a good 30 minutes in the water. I felt the beach was pretty safe, of course one should know the limits. With not much of shells Durga was little disappointed.
If we had more time we could have visited two more forts, Devghad and Vijaydurg about 70km and 100km.
We head back to Kiran's home-stay, have fresh water bath, have breakfast at small joint serving baji-paav, puri-bhaji and tea. Durga enjoyed the breakfast. We drive back the same way non-stop until Belgaum. After lunch we stop again at Kittur Fort. We were back home by 5PM.
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